It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection. These are the times when maps fade, old landmarks crumble and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.

Then, sure, after a federal judge ordered the government to disclose the truth, the government said that OK, there were two videotapes of American agents torturing detainees, even though a judge had told the government to preserve all evidence. Whoopsie, the government said. That was a mistake, but we only did it twice. Now trust us, the government said. Our use of torture, and our destruction of evidence about it, is isolated to these two incidents, the government said. Really, only “isolated allegations of misconduct have been reported,” the government said. Now go away, leave us alone. Just trust us.

Then, sure, after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit and just wouldn’t go away with its “arguments” and its “legal briefs” and “justifications” based on “laws” and the “constitution,” the government said today that, OK, 92 videotapes were destroyed, which really is two, you know, just two 46 times over. A whole lot of twos. And each and every one of these incidents was “isolated,” you know, like in an isolation chamber. So there’s no problem here. Can you just go away now, just leave us alone? Just trust us, now that we’ve really told you everything we know, really now, all of it, this time, yes, really, all of it, yep, that’s all of it, so go away.

The reaction to the latest final and complete revelation over at Fox News: “Who can sue ACLU for crimes against morality?”

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